Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-05-14
stories About Wilkes Booth

Washington letter in Brooklyn Times:
The SORES about John Wilkes Booth
are very absurd" says Mr.. Louis Deit-
rich. an old Washingtonian. 81 have
heard people throughout the country
say that Booth was never killed or
captured. and that the body which was
brought to Washington was a dummy.
| have seen such statements in the
papers, too, as though the writer's be-
licved the nonsense about which they
write. But, ! can tell YOU, that | was
one of the very few who actually did
see and touch the dead body of the
! murderer Of Abraham Lincoln. | knew
Mr.. Lincoln very well, and knew the
crazy man who slew him. Booth was
better known in Washington than
Lincoln. OF course, the president was
seen at dill; rent times, on great &C.
customs, and his pictures were every
WI, re. But ne was not often person.
ally seen by the people. John Wilkes
Booth was Il character well known III
Washington. He was almost rs eccen-
.ric rs his eccentric father, who was in
many respects Il crazy man. Inc
elder Booth was "A man who would 90
and pawn his body for liquor. aud the
theatrical managers would have to
hunt him up at the pawnshops and pay
the money he had borrowed in order TO
get him on the stage. He got excited
A,.n yxhnn ha wnG n1nylny RinhpI.I
Ill. and tried to kill the man who
played Richmond. He chased him off
the stage and all over the theatre until
he was himself captured by n police
man and disarmed. His son John
Wilkes, was "a man Of Uneven mind.
He drank 10 excess and did many
eccentric things. He was n great pc
long walks. Everybody in the city
knew him. He was a ladies man aud
always llirtcd with any ladies on the
avenue who would notice him. He
was no stranger to the people, and
certainly knew him very well and saw
him often. When bis body was
brought here on the %gunhoat, ! wanted
TO see HIM, but it was almost impossi-
bic to get a chance. | thought of al!
schemes to get on board, and at last
went 10 my friend. Or. Todd. OF
the army, and asked him how
should get to see the
body. He smd: We are to make Il
po~-mortcm EXAMINATION tomorrow
IN the afternoon. You come 10 the
boat and II the guards You have a
message for me. / will be on board
and viii tell them to send you to me-.
rs ! am expecting YOU. did SO and
WAS admitted. Just before Inc post
murtcm examination DR.. Todd lifted
the liz tarp,u liu that was laid over
the body on The upper deck. aud show
cd me the face of the dead man. IT
WAS cain and peaceful Us A baby's, and
it was John Wilkes Booth. 1t is all
nonsense to SAY that he was not there.
| saw him and touched his head. 1t
was rs cold as death and it was Booth.
| know what | know and | saw the
mnn living there. The gunboat was
anchored between the arsenal and the
Navy Yard, brit nearer the yard than
the arsenal
Among the other absurd stories told
about Booth was n to the effect that
his body bad been sunk in the eastern
branch OF the Potomac. nj midnight,
and that no one knew whore it WAS.
That was as false as everything els,
they told. His body was buried ia the
old pe%nitcutiary ground, whore the ar
senal now is, together with those OF the
other conslirators. Harold. Payne. Mrs
Surratt and Atzcrodt. There the body
laid for ten years, until it was finally
djsinterred and carried t. Btltimor,
and buried beside that Of his father il
the fanily burying ground.